The Road Ahead

The road ahead is bleak though bright

"Though the road ahead is full of light, the road is bleak, the road is plight. Your step be cold or be it hot, just keep going and don't you stop. Because all roads are worth traveling... no matter what."

How I get things done… Most times

I must tell you that it’s not easy to get things done as an epidemiologist. It’s not the “usual” job where you have a set number of things you need to do and it never fails that you are interrupted by interesting cases that come up and derail your train of thought. So you need to be able to put that train back on the rails and get back to the “usual” work when you’ve put out the fire.

Lifehacker.com

So I use different tools to get things done. Some of them I have used on the office computer, others I use on my netbook, which I take to work every day. The main source for many of my inspirations for getting things done is Lifehacker.com, a blog-style site where the editors post tip after great tip of stuff to help organize and get stuff done. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of life “hacks”, tricks to improve life. There’s even a book.

Portableapps.com

Because the folks in IT at the office have this phobia of us installing our own software, I find myself using the great software at PortableApps.com a lot. And I mean a lot. The software from that site is installed on a thumb drive, not the computer, so you can run things like text editors, screen capture programs, and even the Firefox web browser. There’s even a full-fledged office suite. Sweet! All of them run from your thumb drive, or you can put them in a folder on your computer, and the IT people will never know about them. This is because the software doesn’t install itself to the computer’s registry, and all the files are kept on the folders, not on shared folders or any other place where they can be found.

Google

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that I am an investor in Google, but it only makes sense. It only makes sense because every product they put out has been thoroughly tested not only for functionality but for adoptability. No, not adaptability. Adoptability is the products’ abilities to be adopted by people. Everything from Google Docs (where you can create on-line documents with similar functionality to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), to Google Sites (a low-cost website-building suite)… Everything is great from Google, and it simply works from any web browser.

Microsoft (or Micro$oft)

Okay, so a lot of people complain about Microsoft and how it’s taking over the world. (If anything, Google is the one that is more prone to taking over the world.) I use their operating system (currently Windows 7 on my main laptop and Windows XP on my netbook), their office suite (Office 2007 on my main laptop and 2003 on my netbook), and their Windows Mobile 6.1 on my phone. Hey, they’re good products, they get the work done, and most businesses and industries use them. Heck, I’m writing this blog post using Windows Live Writer.

Summary

In short, I use a lot of technology to get things done, but I also use pen and paper. And that’s okay. Sometimes analog is just as good as digital.

Blogbi et Blogrbe Address 2009

It's our planet, let's look after it

2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth walked the Earth with a set of messages meant to make our lives easier, not difficult. His parables were easy to understand, yet they packed a most complex message. Concepts like taking care of each other, looking out for our neighbors and our finances, and forgiving the most grievous offenses. If we take care of each other and live without hate, it makes for a very easy living. There wasn't a thing that Jesus didn't cover.

And here we are now, in a world full of trouble. The Palestinians and the Israelis don't want to hear anything about looking out for each other. The banks in the United States and Europe decided not to be good stewards of the finances of their clients, and we have "the great recession". Day in and day out, we see examples of people who felt so offended by someone's actions that they decided to take matters into their own hands.

Even those of you who do not adhere to the beliefs and teachings of Christ must admit that His ideas were good ideas. Sadly, while most of the World has heard the message, most of that most has decided to not listen. It is not that we are stubborn or think that we know better. In our hearts, we know we don't. The problem lays in our nature. We humans, by nature, like to be in the dark. We hate the light.

We will lie, cheat, and steal to get or do the things that feel good to us, not the ones that are good for us. Money, though we all know is the source of all evil, is the one thing we all crave the most. Power, though it corrupts absolutely, is the one thing we all strive for. And we all convince ourselves that we'll do good things with the money and the power, but people who do that are in the very small minority.

So, here we are, on the cusp of the second decade of the 21st century, and we still have so much work to do. We still need to heed the advice of Jesus and so many wise men and women who have, through either divine inspiration or a lifetime of wisdom, told us time and time again what we need to do to live in a better place... To live a better life. So, on this Christmas Eve, I invite you to read the wisdom of ages from all the good books and heed that advice. Heed the advice to take care of each other, to look after your finances, and to look out for yourselves.

Most of all, look out for this planet. It's the only one we have, and it's just a speck in the greater scheme of things.